Letters to the Editor, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017

NFL players started kneeling during the national anthem a year ago and no one wrote any letters about it then. In fact, polls showed most Americans (60 percent) supported it. They are not protesting the anthem, patriotism or the flag, but police brutality against black people and racism in America.

It wasn’t until President Donald Trump decided to distract people away from the Russia investigation, Ivanka and Jared Kushner’s use of private email servers (where are chants of “Lock them up?”) and Trump’s corrupt Cabinet members that this matter became an issue.

Trump was so pleased with the response to his call against freedom of speech that he came out against freedom of the press as well when he said he wanted to take away licenses from media that he judged as fake. These are First Amendment rights and deemed the most important freedoms by our Founding Fathers.

We don’t get to choose which freedoms we have; we must support them all. Therefore, all you Second Amendment and Fifth Amendment supporters need to accept the NFL players’ First Amendment rights. And let’s face it, if this were Tom Brady and white NFL players protesting, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Patriotism is not getting draft deferrals as did Trump. Patriotism is not just standing up for our anthem and flag. True patriotism is fighting for our constitutional freedoms as did every military veteran.

Textbooks in Collier County come from a list of state-approved books which are then reviewed by a committee of teachers, parents and experts in the field. The textbooks are part of a teacher’s lesson plan, not their sole source of information. Other factors are more likely to be slowing student progress, like shortened school hours, state funding stuck at pre-recession levels, many children who are first learning English, or more families struggling to stay afloat.

One big mistake in Flaugh’s letter: Bill Gates is not in any way backing away from Common Core. Gates’ blog entry from Oct. 19 says the exact opposite. His foundation “backed the Common Core because we believed, and still believe, that all students – no matter where they go to school – should graduate with the skills and knowledge to succeed after high school. It’s exciting to see how the standards are being brought to life in schools and classrooms. But more needs to be done to fully realize their potential. ... Teachers need better curricula and professional development aligned with the Common Core. And we see that they benefit the most from professional development when they are working with colleagues to tackle the real problems confronting their students. … (W)e are increasing our commitment to developing curricula and professional development aligned to state standards.”

Flaugh wants to convince readers that he’s not political, but labels those who disagree with him as “establishment progressives.” Look at the Florida Citizens’ Alliance website’s list of sponsors. Then decide for yourself how neutral they are. Enough baloney.

Judi Palay, Naples

Democratic Party is dead

While nearly no one at the Naples Daily News, nor in the mainstream news media, have noticed, the Democratic Party has been in a downward spiral for the past 30 years and it has accelerated during the past eight. Democrats have lost the presidency, the House, the Senate and over 1,000 legislative seats around the country. Democrats now control only 19 governorships, a record low.

The modern Democratic Party is totally committed to creating as many government-dependent people as possible, whether through direct government payments such as welfare, food stamps, housing allowances, Obamaphones, etc., or by growing government payrolls and subsidized industries like universities.

Sadly, the socialist policies of the Democrats have been very successful in placing many Americans, particularly uneducated ones, on a “government plantation,” where dependency on government is almost impossible to escape from. Democrats call it “growth."

Now comes the Republican tax cut plan and Democrats are livid. Livid, of course, because they know that allowing Americans to keep more of their own money makes them less dependent on government, thus less likely to vote Democrat. That’s why you see socialists screaming against the plan. To a socialist, any tax cut is no different than showing a crucifix to a vampire.

And for 2020, note the absence of any new, young, Democrat candidates. They have nothing but the same tired-out, worn-out, used-up hippies they’ve always had. It's a dead party.

I say good riddance.

Bob Jacobs, Bonita Springs and Latrobe, Pa.

Boycott Naples?

When perception becomes reality, there’s usually a problem. Enter the recently approved salary increases for the Naples mayor and council.

These increases collectively amount to around $150,000 a year. At the same time, the city is pushing for Collier County to contribute more beach sticker money to the city’s beach program (to the tune of some $150,000 to $250,000 a year). Hmmm, smacks of asking Collier County residents to subsidize the city’s pay raise (even if the money falls into different buckets).

With so much at stake in joint local ventures (residential, highways, environmental and more), the requested increase in county funding for city beaches seems petty. It’s, in some ways, akin to having the city take a knee when it comes to city-county relations. Solving the problems that we collectively face involves far more than just monetary transfers.

My husband and I are not “boycotters.” But, we are fast moving in that direction. For example, we recently took steps to address the NFL players' protest; we’ve boycotted the NFL games on TV and won’t even listen to the scores. Others have inadvertently boycotted pizza sales by boycotting game watching. The owner of Papa John’s (a major NFL advertiser and sponsor) has voiced this concern amid a massive sales decline.

So, we wonder if a boycott of Naples businesses (especially restaurants) is needed. Maybe we should also question whether our non-city addresses should no longer read "Naples,” but perhaps some other moniker (e.g., Collier County, Florida). Maybe, it’s time to ascertain if we should care about Naples when Naples doesn’t seem to care about those of us who considered ourselves “Naples residents.”

Barbara Levine, Naples

Wellness event a success

Survive and Thrive's first Pathways to Wellness was a thoughtful community enrichment wellness gathering.

We were pleased to be volunteers for Survive and Thrive at the Naples Hilton on Oct. 28. This is a nonprofit organization helping cancer patients and survivors experience healing through yoga and mindfulness practices.

It was great to see the response from the Hilton, presenters, vendors, volunteers and participants, with everyone coming together to find out what free services are offered and experiencing hands-on programs.

Survive and Thrive is just the beginning of healing the mind and the soul of those touched by cancer. We are so glad that we could be a part of this event.

Feel free to contact founder Wendy Campbell at SurviveThriveYoga.org.

Judy and Richard Campbell, Little River, S.C.

Lock them up

In 1956, as part of a class field trip, I visited a mental health facility outside Detroit. As I recall, it was four floors of pure bedlam. It was worse than the movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The noise, the smell, the disoriented patients -- even today it's easy to recall the scene.

In the later 1950s and '60s, America began closing these facilities. "Deinstitutionalization" it was called. Our government determined that mentally ill people should not be locked up in asylums. Two reasons: They were considered inhumane and too costly. So the asylums across the U.S. were closed down. The result: More mentally ill people on the street or reintroduced to society and, for many, incarceration in jails and prisons. Prisons for the mentally ill? Inhumane you say?

Well, how inhumane is it to kill innocent people at a concert, in their school, church, home? We wonder how we can better control guns. Perhaps we need to control the mentally ill. Incarceration in an asylum will keep them off the street. Yes, lock them up to protect the innocent.

Buck Evans, Naples

Trump right in criticizing protesters

I do not own an NFL shirt, hat or object.

If I did, I would burn it up as my right to protest the dumbest NFL leadership, owners, and players that you could find on this planet. Where do these bums come from?

A small minority of our population (less than 20 percent) make up 70 percent of NFL players. They are all paid millions of dollars, as are the owners and executives of the NFL.

The black players are protesting that they are not being treated fairly and for this "social injustice" they will disrespect our flag, our nation, our veterans, our national anthem and the morons who purchase NFL tickets and paraphernalia. TV networks and advertisers must agree with these morons’ actions of protest.

President Donald Trump is 100 percent correct in calling out these idiots.